You might have to wait on the queue. at the bus stop, train station, airport lounge or even in the airspace, but we must all wait.

Waiting is a difficult art- untaught in schools, enforced by life.

Just like you I never want to wait that much for any of my desires. It’s first nature that I get it now, and now. Like an Aina, I was born with cords of impatience wrapped around my neck – breaking it has been painful.

But to be truly happy in life, we must master the art of patience. That’s a paradox because I never want to wait so I can be happy and fulfilled. I never want any delay because getting it done in time burnishes my reputation, boosts my pedigree and feeds my ego. I become the star with the magic wand – courted, admired and sought for. My contemporary world has also made waiting an antiquated art. “Millionaire at 29, that’s five years too late!”  “Wealth Magazine: Thirty millionaires under thirty.” But we must all wait at some point for something.

I almost learnt this lesson late.

Breezed in through much of my primary and secondary education pretty fast. Egged on by “impatient” wards, I had passed my GCE O’level in SS2 and was ready to take on the world until life opened its lesson notes. Like the Biblical Pharaoh the first lessons on patience and waiting didn’t really matter much – it was just a bump. It was after my service year, ready for my dream job did I begin to listen to the lyrics of the song “Patience” has been singing. Armed with the much trumped 2:1, promises and business cards from uncles and dad’s pals, it was supposed to be a matter of just weeks.

Many months and several life changing lessons later, my life was altered. The light that shone through my dark world was because I was made of a much more refined material.

Patience should never be misconstrued for lack of ambition. The differentiating element between the two is the efforts applied in achieving your goal. Once you have worked very hard, pushed real far and prayed so much and you aren’t making much or no headway at all, it’s time to involve patience. Its time to take notes from her. Sulking, tantrums and despondency during the not-so-good times distract from the lessons of waiting. Waiting matures, humbles, refines and alters perceptions.

We all have to wait for something – marriage, children, promotion, a fantastic job, angel investors etc. You might have to wait on the queue. at the bus stop, train station, airport lounge or even in the airspace, but we must all wait.

We all love chronicling the lives of most billionaires and successful people but we often ignore the fact that most had to wait on the sidelines, carefully nurturing their dreams and only taking their opportunities at the right moment. I am a teetotaler but am always fascinated with the romanticization of old cellar matured wines that have lost the harsh tannins of youth for a smother, softer mouth feel.

Our lives would definitely be richer, fuller, more fulfilled if only we deliberately learn the art of waiting. If you are still unnecessarily impatient, desperate for solutions even beyond moral and legal boundaries, its high you started taking lessons from “mother patience”. 

What are you waiting for?

 

Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.